WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange charged with violating Espionage Act

[pnwmom]

1. Here's the NY Times story.

In this new case Assange is being charged for PUBLISHING the leaked documents. His earlier charges were related to his assisting Manning in hacking. The Obama administration were concerned that charges like this could violate freedom of the press.

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/05/23/us/politics/assange-indicted-espionage-act-first-amendment.html?action=click&module=Top%20Stories&pgtype=Homepage

WASHINGTON — Julian Assange, the WikiLeaks leader, has been indicted on 17 new counts of violating the Espionage Act for his role in publishing classified military and diplomatic documents in 2010, the Justice Department announced on Thursday — a novel case that raises profound First Amendment issues.

The new charges were part of a superseding indictment obtained by the Trump administration that significantly expanded the legal case against Mr. Assange, who is already fighting extradition proceedings in London based on an earlier hacking-related count brought by federal prosecutors in Northern Virginia.

The secret documents that Mr. Assange published were provided by the former Army intelligence analyst Chelsea Manning, who was convicted at a court-martial trial in 2013 of leaking the records.

SNIP

The Obama administration considered charging Mr. Assange under the Espionage Act but never did out of concerns that such a case could chill traditional journalism.